South By Southwest Panels – Cast Your Vote For Re:Create Today. The 23nd annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival returns to Austin in March and Re:Create wants copyright to be part of the discussion. Our Copyright & Creators: 2026 panel entry features a respected academic, a noted futurist, fan fiction leader and a reporter with the Los Angeles Times who will speculate and debate the trajectory of copyright law and its impact on innovation and creativity. Take a moment to visit the SXSW site and cast a vote for our panel – it will only take a few minutes. In addition, R Street has posted a blog listing other interesting tech policy panels so be sure to check it out!
Hearing On ITC Authority Over Digital Transmissions Draws Skepticism. The Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin reports on the ClearCorrect v ITC case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the August 10 story “Court Skeptical Trade Body Has Oversight of Digital Transmissions,” Bravin captures the responses of several of the judges expressing their concern about the assumed authority: “Judge Pauline Newman suggested that by extending its power to digital transmissions, the commission was exceeding the authority Congress initially conceived for the panel 99 years ago.” Similar concerns were voiced by Chief Judge Sharon Prost: “If we were to affirm the commission here, we would be saying that the ITC has jurisdiction over electronic transmission.” Coalition member Public Knowledge recapped the hearing in its blog, “A Piece of Internet Freedom, In the Hands Of An Appeals Court.” Foster Dobry highlights the dialogue between the judges and lawyers who discussed the origins of the ITC’s authority, the ITC’s intent for Internet service providers and Congress’ necessary role in determining the ITC’s authority.
New York Times Editorial Board Takes On ITC’s Authority. In advance of the oral arguments in the ClearCorrect v ITC case, the New York Times editorial board voiced its concerns over the ITC restricting the free flow of information. In “Keep the Internet Free of Borders” on August 10, the editorial board concluded, “The appeals court should strike down the commission’s ruling, which is bound to hamper the exchange of ideas and information on the Internet.”
3D Printing Paves Way For Creation. In an eye-opening story, Gizmodo takes a look at the new and interesting things made possible today because of 3D printing. In the August 11 story “Objects That Couldn’t Be Made Before 3D Printers Existed” by Bryan Lufkin, readers get a look at car parts, surgical tubes, organ replacement parts, and other inventions that demonstrate the promise of unrestricted innovation and creativity.
Hollywood Tries To Resurrect SOPA In MovieTube Lawsuit. In response to a lawsuit filed by film companies against MovieTube site operators, tech companies are taking early action by seeking approval to file an amicus brief. According The Hollywood Reporter’s Eriq Gardner in “Tech Giants to Hollywood: Stop Trying to Resurrect SOPA,” the amicus brief request states: “But in pursuing the Defendants here, and attempting to resurrect the defeated Stop Online Piracy Act, H.R. 3261 (“SOPA”), Plaintiffs disregard established limits on judicial power and the careful balance that Congress has struck between the rights of online service providers and copyright owners. Those protections cannot be swept aside so readily. Plaintiffs do not need, and should not be allowed, to ‘[c]ut a great road through the law to get after the Devil[.]'”
ARL Takes On Excessive Copyright Terms In Leaked TPP Text. In their Policy Notes Blog, the Association of Research Libraries examines the unacceptable copyright terms included in leaked Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating text. Regarding the copyright terms, ARL writes, “These are wide ranging proposals and longer copyright terms exacerbate the orphan works problem and hamper the public domain. The potential for excessively long copyright terms that far exceed international standards is one of the largest remaining flaws in the agreement from the perspective of access to knowledge and information.”